BREXIT DEAL ‘POSSIBLE IN DAYS’
Green light for a weekend of negotiations ‘as Johnson agrees customs border in the Irish Sea’
BORIS Johnson received a major Brexit boost last night as Brussels chiefs declared that a deal was possible within days.
The European Union gave the green light for a weekend of intense negotiations aimed at hammering out an agreement ahead of a crunch summit on Thursday.
The Prime Minister welcomed the step forward, but warned that ‘there’s a way to go’ and that it is not yet a ‘done deal’.
‘It’s important now that our negotiators on both sides get into proper talks about how to sort this thing out,’ he added.
Diplomats in Brussels said Mr Johnson had secured the breakthrough by agreeing to a customs border in the Irish Sea.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster, whose support will be key to getting a deal through Parliament, fired a warning shot at the Prime Minister last night when she insisted she would block anything that ‘traps Northern Ireland in the European Union, whether single market or customs union, as the rest of the UK leaves’. But crucially she also said she was willing to be ‘flexible’ and indicated she could support proposals that see Northern Ireland treated differently to the rest of the UK if they have the backing of people in the province.
Hardline Eurosceptic Tory MPs provided further optimism that there might finally be the numbers to get an agreement through the Commons when they said they were not ruling out supporting the suggested changes.
British officials will spend today and tomorrow locked in talks with their EU counterparts at the European Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and European Commission chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier held talks over breakfast in Brussels yesterday after Mr Johnson and Irish PM Leo Varadkar agreed on Thursday that they could ‘see a pathway’ to a possible agreement. Both camps hailed yesterday morning’s twohour meeting as ‘constructive’ and, as he left, Mr Barnier said: ‘Be patient. Brexit is like climbing a mountain. We need vigilance, determination and patience.’
Mr Barnier went on to meet the ambassadors of the 27 other EU countries, who agreed to ‘intensify discussions over the coming days’, the European Commission said.
Meanwhile, European Council president Donald Tusk revealed that he had been about to pull the plug on negotiations yesterday, but had decided to hand the PM a last-minute reprieve after receiving ‘promising signals from the Taoiseach that a deal is still possible’. But he warned that the UK still has not presented a ‘workable, realistic proposal’.
After his meeting with Mr Barnier, Mr Barclay returned to London. But Mr Johnson’s chief negotiator, David Frost, stayed in Brussels to lead talks over the weekend.
On Monday Mr Barnier and EU ambassadors on Monday will assess whether enough progress has been made to draw up a final legal text to be signed off by leaders at a crunch summit later in the week. Details of the concessions offered by Mr Johnson remained scant last night – a sign they are being taken seriously by Brussels.
But sources said it involves a major new offer on the issue of customs, which has dogged talks.
It is understood that Mr Johnson has outlined proposals which accept the need for a customs border in the Irish Sea, something which was not part of formal plans tabled by the UK last week.
It could mean goods travelling from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland being subject to EU tariffs as they cross the Irish sea. Reports suggested that Northern Ireland businesses could later claim a rebate once it was proved the goods were for consumption in the UK market. The details of how such a customs arrangement would work will be at the centre of negotiations over the weekend.
One EU source said last night: ‘Barnier didn’t provide any details [during the briefing to EU ambassadors], just a bigger picture impression that the UK was ready to have no border on the island of Ireland.’ A senior EU diplomat said: ‘ The British are being reasonable which allows the negotiations to be carried on throughout the weekend. Now there is a chance at a deal. One thing is for sure is that we’re not going to negotiate at the EU Council, it needs to be done before then.’
Mr Johnson declined to say what concessions he had made. When asked if Northern Ireland would still come out of the EU customs union, he replied: ‘Well, I can certainly tell you that under no circumstances will we see anything that damages the ability of the whole of the United Kingdom, to take full advantage of Brexit.’
‘Brexit is like climbing a mountain’